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Conservation

Biogeography of the Indonesian coelacanths

Nature volume 403, page 38 (2000)Cite this article

Abstract

Living coelacanths (Latimeria chalumnae) are normally found only in the western Indian Ocean, where they inhabit submarine caves in the Comores Islands1. Two specimens have since been caught off the island of Manado Tua, north Sulawesi, Indonesia, some 10,000 kilometres away2. We sought to determine the ecological and geographic distribution of Indonesian coelacanth populations with a view to drawing up conservation measures for this extremely rare fish2,3. During our explorations, we discovered two living Indonesian coelacanths 360 km southwest of Manado Tua.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck-Institut für Verhaltensphysiologie, 82319 Seewiesen, Germany

    H. Fricke, K. Hissmann & J. Schauer

  2. Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, 94720, California, USA

    M. Erdmann

  3. Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI), Ancol Timur, Jakarta, 11048, Indonesia

    M. K. Moosa

  4. Centre d'Oceanologie de Marseille, Station Marine d'Endoume, Marseille, 13007, France

    R. Plante

Authors
  1. H. Fricke
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  2. K. Hissmann
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  3. J. Schauer
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  4. M. Erdmann
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  5. M. K. Moosa
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  6. R. Plante
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to H. Fricke.

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Fricke, H., Hissmann, K., Schauer, J. et al. Biogeography of the Indonesian coelacanths. Nature 403, 38 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/47400

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